Yuvraj Singh and Soha Ali Khan come together to promote ITC's Classmate

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and actor Soha Ali Khan have been roped in by ITC, to endorse its Classmate range of education and stationery products.

Speaking about the initiative, Chand Das, chief executive officer of ITC's education and stationery products business (ESPB), says that the celebs have been brought in for holistic communication. Also, he explains that a male and female ambassador have been chosen purposely, to bridge the gender divide.

"Our target segment for communication is youth (in the age group of 14-21 years). Both Yuvraj and Soha are great achievers in their respective professions and have emerged as youth icons over a period of time. I believe they will connect very well with our target audience and will, hence, take the popularity of our brand forward," he adds.

The company plans to spend 3-4 percent of the brand's annual sales solely on advertising. According to Chand, the TVC featuring both the brand ambassadors will hit the market late this year. Meanwhile, several BTL activities will be carried out to reach out to the potential customers.

Rediffusion Y&R handles the creative duties for Classmate. The creative brief given to the agency is to build around the 'power of big ideas'. "In the commercials, we will showcase how our brand ambassadors have believed in and pursued their own 'big ideas'; and have emerged successful in their professions," adds Chand.

For the record, ITC's Classmate, which was earlier present only in the students' notebooks space, has recently expanded its portfolio with the launch of a range of complementary stationery products, such as pens, pencils and geometry boxes.